


Waste Lands

by Orionseyes



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: AU from End of Season 1, F/M, Fantasy, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 14:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4880590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orionseyes/pseuds/Orionseyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU incorporating some unlikely elements (for noir, at least) like magic and fantasy but hopefully won't be too hokey.  This is my first attempt at fanfic and not-beta'ed.  Feedback would be appreciated. Also my entry in the fanworks festivus 2015 bday celebration for the lovely Ghostcat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waste Lands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ghostcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostcat/gifts).



Veronica Mars parked her car on the heavily littered side street in the 01 zip code. Although it was the middle of the day, the dark, little street was mostly empty. There were a couple of rough-looking guys talking on the opposite corner and a stressed-out woman dragging her child towards a small corner grocery but otherwise you could imagine the tumbleweeds rolling past. This was the absolute _worst_ part of town and normally she wouldn’t come here unless circumstances were desperate or if she was chasing a particularly sleazy or lucrative target. But, this was the place that Suzy, the strange, new and _witchy_ girl at Neptune High had directed her to. She hadn’t wanted to believe anything that Suzy had told her but her circumstances really were that _desperate_.  
  
Logan. _Oh god, Logan_. Logan had been spiraling wildly in a tailspin towards certain doom after Aaron Echolls was revealed as Lilly Kane’s lover/murderer, thereby savagely breaking his emotionally fragile son’s heart yet again. Coupled with the PCHer attempt on his life, he had become even more physically reckless and ruthlessly self-destructive. Veronica had tried her _damndest_ to attempt to reason with him, then to provide him with emotional support, _which she found very difficult to do_ , and finally to threaten him with ultimatums, but _nothing_ was working. It was almost as though he didn’t hear her. She thought perhaps, that he wasn’t actively choosing to ignore her but the yawning chasm that existed of what was left of his life left him single-minded in his desire to watch the world burn and possibly to light himself aflame with it.  
  
Veronica had already risked so much to find Lilly’s killer. Making more implacable enemies than friends in the process. Some of them with dark murder in their hearts. Unbelievably, she had also reconnected with Logan and the dormant passion that neither had ever addressed before flared into life like a phoenix on the pyre of their former lives.  
  
She glanced around quickly to make sure she wasn’t attracting any undue attention. But the few people on the street ignored her. The LeBaron didn’t stand out in any way, in fact, sadly, it fit in the environment. She was wearing black flared jeans and a thick navy-blue hoodie and her short blonde hair was covered by a Padres cap. It looked like she, too, _sadly_ , fit in.  
  
The building she was looking for had a dingy payday loan office in the front which reeked of human misery. She’d have to walk through to get to the person she was looking for, who had sublet a small rear office in the same building. The person she was going to meet, was known as _Madame Sosotris_ , of all things. It appeared as if someone had read their T.S. Eliot. And it made a weird kind of sense, since her life and Logan’s had turned into a waste land.  
  
As she strode towards the door with very baroque sign declaring Madame Sosotris, the Fortune Teller, _Clairvoyant Extraordinaire_ , Astrologer, Sybil and Soothsayer. The entire door appeared to be painted a medium metallic blue, with gold stars and silver crescents covering it. The words were painted in a blood red with a glittery sheen over them. There were owls, snakes and ravens littered over the blue. As Veronica got closer, she had to acknowledge that the effect was rather unsettling and beautiful. Why would someone who could envision a doorway like that be hiding out in this dank, depressing place? As she came upon the door she noticed that the doorknob was a strange milky material. It wasn’t metal but felt smooth like glass. As she turned it while knocking at the same time, the door was yanked out backwards. Veronica had to grasp the door frame or she would have fallen on top of the short, _even shorter than her_ , round, turbaned creature before her.  
  
“Miss Mars? Please come in.” The voice was angelically sweet. The high, lilting voice of a charming, fair-haired princess from a Disney cartoon. Of course, the looks were completely at odds with that. The lady, was elderly, stuffed into a tight-fitting green satin sheath dress festooned with, _wait, were those dragons?_ Her arms were braceleted up to the elbows and that multi-layered pearl collar she wore would have looked appropriate on an Edwardian dowager.  
  
“How did you know who I was?” Veronica asked guardedly. She had not made an appointment, hell, she had only made up her mind to see this woman 20 minutes ago. _Could she be in cahoots with Suzy? Was this a set-up?_ The Mars truculence and suspicion were on high alert.  
  
“I saw in the cards, that you would come. And my dreams also told me a warrior would come, a daughter of the angry Red god. She would come seeking justice and vengeance. But most of all she would come in supplication because I am her _last_ resort.” The lady moved aside quite gracefully and ushered Veronica into her crowded office with a flourish. There were potted ferns, peacock feathers in porcelain urns and brass monkeys and a large, gaudy wooden elephant with a colorful pagoda. Her desk was a gilded vanity table and her chair an overstuffed red velvet monstrosity with gold braid. Against the wall, by the lone, dirty window, there was a perch with a large, green, seedy-looking parrot atop it. All in all, very stereotypical and not in keeping with the absolute artistry and magnificence that was the entry door.  
  
“Pretty girl! Pretty girl! Golden hair! Golden hair,” it squawked as it tilted its head and eyed her with malign intent.  
  
“Hush, Icarus. She is a guest! You had better behave yourself or there will be  no afternoon snack!” She admonished the bird. The parrot bristled its pale green head feathers and then delicately brushed its wing over its beak as it proceeded to groom itself in a most _delicate_ manner.  
  
“Don’t mind him, he’s gotten so fussy and single-minded as he’s gotten old. I had golden hair once upon a time and he used to love combing his beak through it. He would make the most _delightful_ trilling noises!” For such a plump creature, she move quickly as she bustled behind her desk. The desk itself was covered with a crystal ball, a velvet wrapped package that was most likely a deck of tarot cards, a rose-covered china tea cup and saucer with the remains of loose leaf tea inside the cup, a crystal candelabra with red and white wax drippings festooning it’s length, and finally a lovely looking glazed and gold goblet beautifully set with rainbow-colored jewels that were exquisitely matched in size and sheen.  
  
“Do sit down, my dear. It isn’t often that a warrior comes to see me. Warriors are such _active_ people, full of fire and vigor. Always charging off to chase dragons and fight invaders. They are not the type to seek out an old lady for answers through the narrow ways, the old ways. They burn with desire to define their own fates.”  
  
Glancing around the crowed room, Veronica located and sat down on a green brocade stool across from the old lady. Sighing heavily she leaned forward and took a deep breath.  
  
“I was given your name by a classmate. A new girl who appears to be heavily invested in cultivating a witch-like appearance. She gave me your address and told me that you would have the answers I was seeking,” she paused for a moment and then continued. “She said you could guide me or direct me to fix what’s happened. So that I can save someone I _love_ from certain disaster and an unhappy fate.”


End file.
